In 2007, 240px-Percy_Bysshe_Shelley_by_Alfred_Clint.jpgJohn Lauritsen published The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein, in which he argued that it was Perry Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), and not his second wife Mary, who wrote that great novel. The evidence, Lauritsen says, both textual and extra-textual, conclusively shows that Mary Shelley had neither the imagination nor the technique to write Frankenstein. Every page of Frankenstein shows the hand of Shelley: his ideas, imagination, passion, and mastery of prose. Not surprisingly, Lauritsens book caused some controversy among academic and feminist circles. This academic reaction, Lauritsen believes, is due to two things: 1) Mary Shelley was an icon, a sacred cow, to academic feminists, and 2) many or even most of the leading scholars of English Romanticism were invested in what I call the Mary Shelley myth. That is to say, reputations were at stake. Read more at bilerico/2011/09/john_lauritsens_shelley.php#UOSGbHCBlVwTXRiA.99
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 11:53:56 +0000
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